Former Formula One world...

Former Formula One world champion McLaren Mercedes lives to fight another day! The Woking-based team narrowly escaped serious sanctions after the FIAтЂ™s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) found it guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute.

Instead, it has been hit with a suspended three-race ban for misleading officials at the seasonтЂ™s opening grand prix in Australia. The reigning champion Lewis Hamilton and former sporting director Dave Ryan were at the centre of the allegations.

The court found the pair had lied to stewards immediately after the Melbourne race, when they were questioned about an incident involving Jarno TrulliтЂ™s Toyota. Both claimed the Italian had illegally overtaken Lewis under safety-car conditions, despite evidence from the pit-to-car radio proving the pair had actually agreed to let the Toyota driver pass.

The WMSC came to the suspended sentence decision after McLaren F1 boss Martin Whitmarsh dismissed Dave Ryan from the team, before submitting a written apology to the FIA president Max Mosley.

тЂњWe are aware that we made serious mistakes in Australia,тЂќ admitted Whitmarsh. тЂњI was pleased to be able to assure the FIA World Motor Sport Council members that we had taken appropriate action, with a view to ensuring that such mistakes do not occur again.тЂќ

This controversy comes only a year after the team was thrown out of the 2007 F1 championship, when it was discovered it had secret Ferrari technical documents. To make matters worse, the outfit has suffered a torrid on-track start to 2009, as its latest car has struggled to match the pace of the front-runners.